Today’s Notable Young Entrepreneur is 27-year-old Calin Yablonski, who started his business as an individual consultant when he was 23, and then separated himself from the brand by starting Inbound Interactive in 2009…
Elevator Pitch: Describe your business in a nutshell.
It’s a digital marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing company. We consult on pre-built websites, to improve the websites and improve rankings on Google.
What are your top three tips to improving a website?
Optimize the title tag. The title tag is the title of the webpage; it’s a piece of code that includes key words.
Build great links back to your site. The number of hyperlinks on other sites impacts the amount of authority your site has; for example, Wikipedia has millions of links. Ideas for sites to have links on include: your business partners, industry associations and local directories.
Write amazing content, such as a legitimately valuable article (over 500 words), with key words.
Why did you start your business, what was the inspiration?
I wanted to help small businesses. With small businesses, the help you provide can have a significant impact on increasing sales. While helping large corporate clients is also rewarding, you can more easily see the impact your help has when working with a small business owner.
What is the best part of what you do on a day-to-day basis? The most challenging part?
The best part is working with my team; they are a great group. I enjoy sitting down with the team in the morning and brainstorming what we can do to help our clients.
The most challenging part is staying up to date with new technology; Google changes their algorithms constantly. Algorithms are the formulas used to evaluate website for results rankings, and they can be flipped on their head at any time.
Where do you see your business going in five years?
In five years I see Inbound Interactive as a leader in Western Canada in SEO, doing high level consulting with a focus on search engine marketing.
What is the most memorable milestone in your career?
The day I was able to give my first employee a raise; it tickled me pink.
Do you have any advice for other young professionals?
Work as hard as you possibly can. Things have a way of working out. Get over your head so you can dig yourself out.
Do you support any charities? If so, which one(s) and why is that important to you?
I’m on the Advisory Committee for the Lethbridge College Communication Arts Program.
What is Notable to you?
Calgary is going through a technology revolution. It’s a hotbed of young, smart, talented web entrepreneurs and that’s really exciting.
Blackberry, iPhone, Android, or Other?
iPhone.
Photo credit: Lori Andrews